Arabic Language and Culture

Answer 1

Most people do not hate Arabs, but there is a certainly a minority of Westerners who do. Arab hatred is much rarer in non-Western cultures (mostly because non-Westerners do not often have long-term interactions with Arabs). This answer discusses exclusively these negative opinions:

1) Islamic Terrorism: Americans remember well what happened on 9-11, when Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda Terrorist Organization intentionally attacked and murdered over 3,000 American citizens. While Al-Qaeda was based in Afghanistan, bin Laden was himself a Saudi as were 15 of the 19 pilots. Rather than express regret for the loss of life and condemnation of the attacks, a sizable minority of Middle Eastern clerics remained neutral or claimed this as "a victory against the West". Additionally, surveys have shown that many Muslims (including Arabs) believe that 9-11 was a Western inside-job and do not take credit for the failures in their society that lead to this type of terrorism. As a result, Westerners are afraid of subsequent attacks from Arab individuals. In the European context, the Madrid Train Bombing on 3-11, the London Train Bombings on 7-7, the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands, and numerous smaller terrorist attacks were also perpetrated by Arab Islamic Terrorists in European countries. This makes the Europeans fearful about further and more common attacks.

2) Arab Anti-American Protests: Nowhere in the world is more famous for US and European flag-burning than the Arab World. The US is often condemned for its actions in the Middle East and its symbols and ideals mocked and cajoled. For those with a sense of patriotism and pride, these acts engender rage towards those who perform them. Since this is more common in the Arab World than elsewhere, more animosity is directed towards Arabs. It is worth noting that such protests may be entirely meritorious due to US policies in the Middle East, but since most Americans are unfamiliar with their policies there, they only see this negative reaction. In the European context, events such as the Jyllands-Posten Cartoon scandal led to Danish embassies being attacked and people dying over a moderately insulting cartoon (some of which was even fabricated by Danish Imams who were angry that more Danish Muslims were not enraged). Europeans have fought numerous wars to protect their freedoms of religion and speech, which Arabs seem to little regard for.

3) Arab Anti-Israeli Sentiment: Many Americans fervently support the State of Israel as an expression of their Christian or Jewish faith. The Arab antagonism towards the State of Israel alienates them and infuriates them. They have no opposition to the Arab States existing, so why should the Arab States have any opposition to the Jewish State existing? Similarly, in Europe, this is also morphing into general Anti-Semitism. Jews are now fleeing the Swedish city of Malmö because of Arab riots there. In France, Ilan Halimi was brutally tortured and killed by Muslims for the "crime" of being a Jew in Frane.

4) Rampant Human Rights Abuses: The Arab World is known numerous human rights abuses, such as torture for prisoners, attacks and unequal legislation against women, the execution of homosexuals, violence towards religious minorities, and other similar offenses. Instead of taking responsibility for these crimes, many Arabs prefer to claim that there are no problems and continue to engage in these activities. Westerners, especially Europeans, often see themselves as the defenders of justice and righteousness and see the Arabs falling far too short in this regard.

5) Failure to Culturally Adjust: Especially in Europe, Arabs have failed to properly integrate into the European population, bringing their customs and traditions with them. There is the expectation in the USA and Europe that you come to the country and become a normal citizen of that country. You can be a citizen with some divergent culture, but it should not be your expectation that society will change to accommodate you. Americans and Europeans see the Arabs in Europe as not making those kind of concessions and expecting Europeans to incorporate Shari'a Law into proper governance. Not wanting this type of climate, they oppose Arabs.

6) Misconceptions about Islam: A lot of Westerners know very little about Islam and have heard conflicting information from different sources. Rather than be open to people of different faiths, these people would rather close themselves off and stick to historical enmities.

Answer 2

People from the Middle East have always been thought of as strange and foreign by Western culture simply for holding a different set of beliefs. It stands to reason, though, that those feelings held by Westerners towards Arabs were intensified after the September 11 terrorist attacks. It was an example of a few extremists ruining it for everyone.

In short, people - as a whole - are ignorant until you prove them wrong. If someone is prejudiced towards you, get to know them. Show them that you are worth as much as anyone else.

Not everyone does hate Arabs.

Answer 1

That is a bit of a tricky question, for a number of reasons.

1. The word Arab, wasn't in existence before the 14th century, long after the time of Abraham

2. It was used almost exclusively to describe Bedouins, dessert peoples that are a pastoral culture, meaning they move from place to place with the change of seasons for various agricultural reasons.

3. The modern term Arab is a bit of a catch all that not only incorporates geography as it's litmus test, but language and culture as well. As such, in some North African countries (like Egypt) the people are considered Arabs.

So the word is a bit murky. Since Abraham lived before the word was even in existence, it would probably make more sense then to say that he was of Semitic origin, a group that includes both Arabs and Jews.

Answer 2

He was not Arab. Arabs did not leave the Arabian Peninsula until the 600s B.C.E. (and then not en masse until the Conquests of Omar in the 640s C.E.) and Abraham was born in Ur in Mesopotamia. Secondly Arabs trace their lineage back to Ishmael, Abraham's son which would mean that while he was the father of the Arab progenitor, he himself would not be Arab.

Ethnically, most people believe Abraham to be Chaldean, a Mesopotamian ethnicity that dominated the southern Mesopotamian region.

Answer 3

prophet Ibrahim PBUH had two son Isaac PBUH and Ismael PBUH. Jews are children of Isaac PBUH and most of Muslims children of Ismael PBUH.

In the Middle Ages, Arab Muslims treated non-Muslims in a way that was superior to contemporaneous civilizations and introduced the concept of religious tolerance (as opposed to Europe which was practicing the exact opposite at the time). However, it is nothing close to equality or Rights. An important thing to note is that the concept of Rights comes out the Enlightenment. Prior to this point, there was a system of privilege wherein the Ruler would provide privileges (out of the kindness of his heart) to a certain group of people to do acts. A person did not have the "right" to anything and this was the mentality worldwide.

The Pact of Omar was a document of submission signed by the Caliph Omar and defeated Christians and Jews during one of Omar's Wars. While the factual accuracy of that story may be doubted, there is no doubt that the Pact of Omar formed the basis for the treatment of non-Muslims in the conquered territories. The Pact of Omar set out a number of regulations that will be described in this answer.

The Dhimmi, or non-Muslim under Arab Muslim occupation was required by the Pact of Omar to pay a number of taxes that were connected with his Dhimmi status. The most famous was the jizya, which was a tax that Dhimmi had to pay for Muslims for the right to not be killed where they stood for not acknowledging Mohammed's Prophecy; it was a form of humiliation. Additional taxes included the kharaj, which was a tax on non-Muslim* land-holdings in the Muslim World. The kharaj was so untenable that most Dhimmi were forced to live in the cities where the tax would not be applicable. There was also inequality concerning the justice system. On paper, a Christian or Jew could testify against a Muslim, but in reality, such testimony was not acceptable and the attempt to defame a Muslim would receive retribution. Christians and Jews were not allowed to build new houses of worship, restore old houses of worship, proselytize in any way (this included religious debate or dialogue), or allow wine or pigs to be shown in public.

Polytheists were forced to convert to Islam with some rare exceptions (such as the Hindus in India). Zoroastrianism was the majority faith in Iran until Islam almost completely extinguished it, both by sword, economic inequality, and brutal repression of Zoroastrian customs (unless they could be Islamicized like Nourouz).

This system of inequality between Arab Muslims and non-Muslims persisted up to the colonial period, when it reversed. As a result of colonization, the segregated Dhimmi System gave way to a new, modern bureaucratic system where Europeans were the dominant class and natives, regardless of their religion were second-class, unless they became part of the bureaucracy. To do this, a person would require an education in order to become literate and be able to successfully perform functions in the Arab World. As Jews and Christians sought education, they were able to ascend the hierarchy and become relatively powerful compared to the Muslim majority. When the Islamic World became independent, only the Lebanese Christians were able to maintain this dominant position (and only until the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1991). In other countries, the end of colonization saw a brief rise in Anti-Semitism followed by a mass exodus of Jews from majority-Muslim countries for Israel, UK, France, the United States and Canada. Those Jews and Christians who remained garnered a more equal status than anything that they had previously had under Muslim leadership, but still are unequal in terms of their inability to proselytize, the unofficial "requirement" to avoid offending Islam in public, and the need to seek the authority of high government officials to build new houses of worship or to repair existing ones.

*Although Muslims also had to pay the kharaj in theory, in practice the tax rate for kharaj on Muslims was slight compared to the amount required by the Dhimmi peoples.

Aslam o Alaikum (Peace be upon you).

Islam spread by the word of mouth.

The dawa (preaching) of the religion is mandatory to every Muslim. There are good, better and best Muslims in the world. There are also those Muslims who are Muslim only by name, there are practising Muslims and those who learn, practice and then spread Islam.

Hence those people who were practicing Muslims, went on foot to Africa, hundreds of years ago, and spread the word of Allah (One God). They took along with them the Holy Quran (the last book of wisdom), revealed to Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) some 1428 years ago (today 2007).

You can get more information on the following web sites:

http://www.aswatalislam.net

http://www.aswatalislam.net/CategorySelectionMadeP.aspx?CatID=1002

http://www.Islamicity.com

etc. etc.

Allah knows best.

Waslam (peace on you)

Israel has fought with Lebanon on several occasions including: Israel's entrée into the Lebanese Civil War in 1982, the Occupation of South Lebanon from 1982-2000, or the recent Israeli-Hezbollah War in 2006. All three stem from different causes. The primary ones for each are listed below.

1) The Lebanese Civil War had a number of causes separate to Israel and Israel only entered the War midway through. The causes of the Lebanese Civil War included, but were not limited to:

1. The rising percentage of Shiite Muslims and sinking percentage of Maronite Christians and the Shiites wanting more power.
2. The arrival of Palestinian Militant Organizations like the PLO fleeing Jordan after King Hussein's Black September who brought unrest and chaos with them.
3. The languishing, horrible conditions of the vast numbers of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon.
4. The increasing militancy and radicalization of the Maronite Christian minority.
5. The increasing Syrian support of Shiite Paramilitary Groups

Israel entered the Lebanese Civil War on account of the following two reasons:

1. Palestinian Paramilitary Organizations began to rain rockets down on Northern Israel in an attempt to goad Israel to enter the Lebanese Civil War. The PLO believed that such an entry would unite the Shiites and Sunnis behind one banner to repel the Israelis. The Union did not form, but Israel did retaliate by crossing the border and hunting down the PLO.
2. Christian Falangists, with whom Israel quickly allied, promised Israel a longer term ceasefire and more amicable relations in the future. Israel wanted a chance at peace with Lebanon and therefore supported those who would advocate for this.

2) The Occupation of Southern Lebanon was a result of the Lebanese Civil War. Israeli troops were already in Lebanon and just retreated to positions south of the Litani River, but north of the Israeli-Lebanese border. Hezbollah and other paramilitary groups harassed the Israeli occupying force, leading to minor skirmishes in the area. In 2000, as a sign of restraint, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak withdrew the Israelis to the 1980 borders to the satisfaction of the United Nations, but not to Hezbollah which considers parts of the Israeli-occupied Golan to be Lebanese territory.

3) The Israeli-Hezbollah War began from Hezbollah's gross misinterpretation of how strongly Israel would respond to its illicit activities. The War had a number of causes that included, but were not limited to:

1. Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border: Regev and Goldwasser, violating the strong Israeli sense that no soldier can be ever left behind. This prompted an Israeli incursion into Lebanon to retrieve the soldiers.
2. Hezbollah, upon seeing the Israeli soldiers, launched Soviet Katyusha Missiles into Israel, causing the Israelis to amp up their incursion to a proper invasion and airstrike.